Machines for folding such articles as mentioned above, have at least one folding station and if necessary, one or more further stations, including a packaging station. Such further stations include, for example, stations for producing individual packages which are then assembled into larger packets, whereby an individual package may comprise but a single sanitary napkin or the like. Any other article handling stations may be provided between the folding station and the final packing station.
Machines of the above type are well known in the art and basically work quite satisfactorily. In one conventional machine the individual articles are first folded once or several times if desired, whereupon individual articles are packaged, one to a package, whereupon the individually packaged articles are assembled in groups comprising any desired number of individual packages, for example, groups of six or twelve individual packages are assembled to form respective packets. However, known machines of this type leave room for improvement with regard to the versatility of these machines.